Miller Magazine Issue: 131 November 2020

61 COVER STORY MILLER / November 2020 24/7 by an autonomous system, reading the condi- tions every second and sending visual and sound alarms (Figure 10). Professionals visiting the area may carry PPE monitors, but the perimeter can nowadays be guarded by an independent system. A system that will also help to identify leakages and restore them on time. Find the truth in fumigation and aeration People believe that when a fumigant is applied the work is done. And when the door opens, aeration is completed. Sometimes we suspect that something in our procedures may not be so perfect, but we are afraid to dig deeper because we are afraid we may dis- cover things that may upset our logistics. An extra day of treatment may be needed, or some delay to warm the products, perhaps some extra fumigant may need to be added, or we may realize we need to aerate for longer to avoid putting people safety at risk. But we need to dig. And we need to monitor. And we need to review. The next graph contains 2 good reasons why this “digging” is needed: On the left side of this graph in Figure 11 we see that the phosphine concentration in the ambient air inside a chamber is 1000 ppm higher than the concentration in the center of a pallet at the same moment in time. This is a pallet of half kilo bags, in a plastic packaging with various layers of plastic around 10-bag-batches, and more plastic around the pallet itself. The several layers of plastic allow only a portion of the available fumigant to penetrate. On the right side of the graph we see that during aeration, the sensors reading the ambient air reach zero phosphine concentration very quickly but the sensors inside the pallet show that the gas is kept much longer and at levels non-safe to enter. All the data revealed in this example are valuable for the fumigator, and critical for personnel safety. A data-driven fumigation methodology is the only sane choice, in this era of Industry 4.0. The technology for precise and safe fumigations is here. Let’s use it and make it all safe and successful for fumigators and consumers alike! Figure 10: A network of phosphine low-range sensors guards the perimeter of a treatment al- lowing safe approach to workers. Figure 11: Multiple points of interest in a properly monitored fumigation process